OPINION;CHICAGO'S HIGH-TECH LOLLAPALOOZA

A decision by the organizers of the nation's premier computer trade show and the top electronics show to merge their spring gatherings at Chicago's McCormick Place is good news both for the city's convention industry and for the region's stature as a high-technology center.

Last week, Comdex/Spring and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) announced plans to hold their merged spring convention in Chicago for a 10-year period beginning in 1998. Given the convergence of computers and home electronics, the move makes sense for the trade shows' clientele. Both exhibitors and attendees (typically buyers of both types of products) can cut their marketing and travel costs by attending one show instead of two.

The agreement is a victory for the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, which has seen its trade show dominance threatened by better-funded rivals in other markets. Yet it is the opportunity for Chicago to market itself as a high-tech hub that is most important.

As the region sheds its Rust Belt reputation with such high-tech stars as Motorola Inc., U.S. Robotics Corp. and Spyglass Inc., the combined Comdex/CES confab will keep Chicago on the minds of the nation's largest technology players. For a few days every spring, the industry will be focused not on Seattle or San Jose but on Chicago.

But for the strategy to work, the show's organizers must make the lollapalooza attractive to both exhibitors and buyers-a must-be-there event. A visit to this year's Comdex gathering found poor signage, hard-to-find booths and a highly touted "mobile computing pavilion" that was virtually impossible to find.

Chicago is by no means a new Silicon Valley. But a decade-long run by a combined Comdex/CES show will help the region cast itself as a home for high tech. State and city officials, along with the Illinois Coalition, should use the annual concentration of industry titans-and the computer trade press-to sell the Chicago area as a home for 21st-century ventures.